The Boston Global Strategic and Operational Management Programme

• What does globalisation mean and what are its biggest challenges?
• Why Global Economic and Business Structures are Changing
• Understanding Comparative Advantage and Competitive Advantage
• Managing Transition – What activity belongs where?

• Effective Business Models for an Increasingly Integrated Environment
• The Strategic Relevance of the Responsive and Agile Organisation
• Post-merger and Post-acquisition Management as Major Challenges
• Collaboration as a means of Accelerating Global Development
• Product and Process Innovation in Global Strategy

• The Process of Creating and Managing High-performance Teams
• Developing the New Generation of Potential Senior Managers
• Flexible, Extended and Virtual Organisation Structures
• Mentoring and Coaching – The new roles for senior managers
• The Strategic Implications of the Flattening Organisation

• Strategic Planning in an Uncertain and Rapidly Changing Business Environment
• The Main Strategic Priority – How to gain and sustain profitable growth?
• Building the Business Model – Achieving the optimum outcome
• Creating an Effective Linkage between Strategy and Operations
• The Concept of Alignment – How to keep your teams focused and on track?

• The Framework of an Effective Strategic Plan
• Setting-up and Managing an Effective Strategic Planning Team
• Resourcing the Planning Process and Projecting Inputs and Outputs
• Presenting and Communication the Strategic Plan to Your Operations Teams
• Leading the Execution of the Strategic Plan
• Final Questions, Answers and Deciding Personal Follow-up Actions
• Course Leader’s Summary and Overview of the Whole Course

This day introduces core management functions and distinguishes them from leadership, while exploring foundational skills required for modern management practice. The topics covered will include:   

Defining the Unique, Essential and Noble Functions of Management

• Clearly Differentiating Management from Leadership
• Rediscovering the Critical Importance of Effective Management: Traditional vs. Contemporary Views
• Inappropriate Metaphors of Managers: The Need to Change Mind-sets
• The Key Management Functions: The Q-OPD Full-Range Management Model©

The Four, Over-arching Core Skills for both Managers and Leaders

• Developing Personal, Social and Organisational Awareness
• Tailored, Multi-channel Communication
• Powerful and Targeted Influence and Persuasion
• Emotional Intelligence (EI) & Political Intelligence (PI)

This day focuses on directing operations, delegating effectively, and solving problems using rational, creative, and soft‑system approaches. The topics covered will include:   

Operationalising & Directing

• The Manager’s Crucial Operationalisation Remit
• Translating the Strategic Plan into an Implementation Plan
• Powerful Processes to Direct Your Staff
• Using Goals, Objectives, Outcomes and Behavioural Metrics

Delegating & Problem-solving

• The Delegation Imperative: Making Yourself Dispensible, Creating New Leaders and Succession Planning
• Relinquishing Authority and Responsibility: Setting Your Staff-up for Success
• Creative, Rational and Soft-system Problem-solving Approaches
• Deciding between Alternative Solutions whilst considering the Operational and Political Dimensions of Your Actions

This day covers resourcing, supporting and monitoring team performance and capability development.
The topics covered will include:   

Resourcing & Supporting

• Identifying the Resources Available to Your Staff and Using Them to Develop their Capability
• Selecting Staff for their Talent and Potential
• Supporting Your Staff: Engagement and Empowerment
• The Five Essential Support Needs of Your Staff to Ensure their continuing Discretionary Effort

Monitoring & Controlling / Coordinating

• The Essential Nature of Monitoring and Controlling
• Soft and Hard Processes: Individual Development and Goal-achievement
• Deciding on Your Key Metrics: ‘What you measure is what you get!’
• Designing Monitoring Systems / Performance Dashboards

This day explores feedback, reporting, and redirecting behaviours, and how managers can act as catalysts for organisational engagement and strength. The topics covered will include:   

Feeding Back / Reporting & Redirecting

• The Value of Timely, Relevant, Actionable Feedback
• The 3 Feedback Principles and Structuring Motivational, Developmental and Critical Feedback
• Re-directing Behaviours and Setting-up Positive Responses
• Harnessing the Power of Activators, Behaviours and Consequences

The Manager as Catalyst

• Understanding and Appreciating the New Management Paradigm
• Using the Gallup Q-12 to Powerfully Manage your Staff
• Playing to your Staff’s Strengths and Helping them Manage their Weaknesses – as a Team
• Managing Employee Aspirations by Helping them Find their Ideal Roles

This day focuses on personal career planning, identifying values and motivators, and building a strategy for managerial career advancement. The topics covered will include:   

Managing Your Own Career as a Manager

• Planning in the Emerging, New Employment Reality: The Changing World, Workplace and Corporate Governance
• Identifying Your Specific Career Anchors: What you are good at? What you value and what motivates you?
• Constructing Your Personal Career Advancement Strategy
• Prioritising and Engaging in the Important Career Advancement Activities
• Becoming Politically Adept